wow I started this fic literally four years ago? I feel like I've grown a lot as a writer and a person, so sometimes re-reading this in order to keep writing it over the last year or more has made me groan (at the immaturity and lack of character backstory besides Harmony and multiple typos and ways I've had to haphazardly alter it as the MCU expanded) and ditch this after barely trying. However, I began to realize that I needed some sort of stress relief besides just reading fanfic—a way to get my creative motor running again—so here we are. I hope the writing style isn't too inconsistent with the rest of the fic. If you want the unedited, really porn-y version of this chapter (with like 4,000 extra words of smut) head over to AO3 and search the same username. Thanks pals.

The night slowly dwindled as Wanda, Vision, and Pietro wandered away, Sam and Bucky wrapped up their highly competitive card game, and everyone else disappeared one by one until only Harmony, Clint, and Thor were left on the patio. Harmony was still content in the slightly cool water, looking up at what stars were visible through the light pollution of Malibu Beach while nursing a glass of white, sparkly wine. She looked to where Thor and Clint were leaning close together outside of the pool, watching the waves and murmuring quietly. She downed the rest of her glass and smoothly swam to the end where they were, pulling herself on the ledge and making both men turn around to watch her rise from the water.

Harmony blushed as she realized both men were predatorily watching the rivulets of salt water from the pool drip down and around her curves. She fought the urge to cover herself or stand defensively, instead catching Clint's eyes as he smirked at her. She fought the urge to giggle as he reached out to her, catching her hand and smoothing his thumb across the pulse in her wrist.

"We should head back to your place Rabbit"

"Is my bed big enough for…" she gestured between the three of them, "all this?"

Thor chuckled darkly,

"There are places to couple other than in a bed Lady Harmony,"

She couldn't help but shiver at the timbre in his voice, remembering earlier in the day when she could almost feel the storm brewing beneath his skin. Surely, if her rememberings of mythology were correct, Thor was not only a god of thunder but also a god of fertility. The intrusive thought only deepened her blush and she wished she had gotten better at controlling her exploding snap face since Hogwarts. Thor's smile melted into a hungry, single-minded concentration as he leaned toward her; Clint's thumb still rubbed lightly at her pulse point while their fingers were loosely intertwined.

It was almost as if time slowed when Thor's sizable hand gently cupped her face, turning her chin up even farther as he moved his face to hers—giving her plenty of time to resist his actions. Time continued to languidly creep as her eyes fell closed and his full, warm lips met hers more gently than she expected; soft, tentative, still asking for permission. Harmony raised on her tiptoes, conscious of Clint's gaze and his fingers tangled in hers as she pressed forward into Thor's kiss, slightly opening her mouth and letting the tip of her tongue slide against his lower lip. Thor growled in response, moving his hand from her face to the back of her head, threading his fingers through her still wet hair as he took control of the kiss.

She gave a breathy moan into his mouth as his tongue raked across hers, his teeth grasping her lower lip causing her to gasp. They broke apart slowly, Thor's fingers still fisted at the nape of her neck and Clint's fingers still lightly gripping her hand. She turned her face toward Clint and he stepped further into their space, brushing his free hand against her cheek with a twinkle in his eye.

"Let's get back to your place Hare, while the night is still young," Clint's voice sounded dark and graveled, and Thor chuckled at the sentiment before gently tugging her hair and freeing his hand from her neck.

"Verily," he agreed before also pressing a quick, but bruising kiss to Clint's lips.

Steve was soundly sandwiched between Pepper and Tony before he let his mind think things through. He was kissing Pepper as if he had more than casual make out experience with a handful of people. Tony's mouth was attempting to work down his neck, but because of the height difference, he was just managing to nip lightly at where Steve's neck sloped into his shoulder. Tony rested a firm, warm grip around Steve's abs and right pectoral, and Steve gasped into Pepper's mouth as Tony's hand grazed his nipple through his hastily thrown on button up shirt.

"Why don't we all get a little more naked, hmm?" Tony's husky voice suggests before lightly chuckling. Steve sees Pepper make eye contact with Tony around Steve, the look on her face absolutely sinful. Steve thinks he's stuck in some sort of spell as Tony's hands begin deftly, but teasingly, undoing his buttons. He realizes too late that Pepper has sunk to the ground in front of him, gently tugging his swim trunks down his thighs. Steve can't even blush in a timely manner as Pepper's eyes widen at his half-hard cock springing from the confines of his swim shorts. By the time a blush spreads up his cheeks, Pepper has him in her mouth, swirling her tongue lightly around the head of his cock as it thickens even more. Steve feels more than hears Tony moan at sight of Pepper on her knees with Steve's cock between her lips.

Tony reaches around Steve to grab a handful of Pepper's strawberry blonde hair, forcing her mouth to take more of Steve's dick. At this point, Steve is sure that he is shaking from pleasure and making uncontrollable sounds, but he can't even find it in himself to be embarrassed. He decides then and there to stop trying to get his brain to keep up—Tony and Pepper are a well oiled machine and there's no way he could rationally file through every movement and action as it's happening. Steve accepts then and there, that there are some experiences in life that should be purely physical, purely passion—regardless of whether his super-soldier brain is working a mile a minute to process and strategize what's happening. At one time he wanted this with Bucky—at a time when being openly homosexual was almost a death sentence. Yet, as his body rode the waves of pleasure being forced by Pepper Pott's hot mouth and Tony's calloused hands roaming his body, he found that Bucky was nowhere near his mind.

Bucky strolled from the end of the hall where the huge guest bathroom, that the four guest bedrooms along this hall shared, was settled. His entire living room, bedroom, and eat-in kitchen growing up would have fit in that bathroom—complete with a grossly oversized tub, two roomed off toilets, and a walk in shower large enough for at least four people.

After Bucky regained his autonomy and awareness from being the Winter Soldier, he had an absolute mental break for a week…or twelve…or twenty four…or the entirety of the time he spent in a sad flat in Bucharest combined with the time he spent with Steve before the whole "civil war" and Accords nonsense came crashing down around them.

His mind went through hell trying to consolidate his kill ledger, trying to make peace with the amount of people he had murdered ruthlessly compared to the amount of innocents he had spared when his mind had sporadically cleared from the red fog. His mind ran circles around itself trying to figure out modern technology and modern events—even though he had obtained a functional understanding of the present as the Winter Soldier, it wasn't quite the same when you had your own autonomous cognitive function.

After leaving Tony alone and wounded in Siberia, Tony had somehow 1) put the Accords on ice and finagled their revision amongst the UN with a lot of creative press; 2) told Ross where to shove it and stormed into the Raft to spring everyone free with lots of paperwork and charisma; and 3) then busted down T'Challa's doors out of righteous anger, hurt, and indignation, forcing Steve to call a truce after he and everyone else has fled to Wakanda following Tony's prison break. In hindsight, Bucky thinks that Tony was more than a little in love with Steve but too wrapped in his daddy issues to handle it, and that Steve was more than a little in love with Tony but too wrapped in his rose-colored past when trying to recover James Buchanan Barnes from the grips of Soldat (not that he's ungrateful or anything, the opposite really—it's just that the two of them are quite the tragic love story and he thinks Steve is a hard-headed, single-minded punk 95% of the time).

Bucky remembers being more than out of it during the time period following the "civil war"—vacillating between being shut down, in Winter Soldier mode to protect his mind, and being a tornado of emotion that Steve, Tony, Natasha, any and all of them couldn't reckon with. He remembers Shuri and the other Wakandan scientists cauterizing his arm and sending neurological signals to block HYDRA's code-word programming—but doesn't remember Steve's crying as Bucky begged multiple times to be put back in cryo. He remembers feeling feverish and blank while Tony muttered over his left side and early fittings of his new Stark prosthetic as he laid in a hospital bed—but doesn't remember Tony's righteous, angry arrival to Wakanda or the multiple tense conversations that Steve and Tony had in his glazed-over presence. He remembers the multiple apologies and tough heart to hearts that he and Tony had alone, unsupervised (and the fights with Steve to let this happen)—but doesn't remember the moment of Tony's forgiveness, during one of his many pitiful emotional breaks where he apparently laid his guts entirely on the table without a filter or emotional control at 3am outside of Tony's lab (thanks Friday for saving the footage).

Following the entire "bust down the doors of Wakanda and force uncomfortable, unconventional therapy on yourself and the man who murdered your parents for a terrorist organization while brainwashed" debacle, Tony had allowed him to stay in the Malibu home with Steve and Sam to recover and become more James Barnes than the Asset. All this being said, Bucky was more than familiar with Stark's style of personal opulence, but that didn't mean he was used to it after years of having the bare minimum.

Bucky slows his pace as he realizes that Sam is perched near the railing of the stairs, staring into the dining room intently, almost angrily. By this time of the morning nearly everyone should be asleep, what was Sam doing awake? What was he watching?

As James moved silently closer to Sam, he heard the kitchen sounds—soft moans, and husky whispers filter in, and his cheeks pinked despite his own tumultuous experience with sex. He wonders which couple it is…or should he say trio? Bucky might not be a soldier-spy any more, but he's still perceptive enough to know that Vision, Wanda, and Pietro have a little tension, that Thor definitely followed Clint and the British girl to bed, and that Tony fully intended to give Steve a threesome for his birthday.

Based on Sam's reaction he was willing to bet that it was Steve, Tony, and Pepper.

Bucky continues his quiet creep forward in an attempt to see what is visible beyond Sam's shoulder—all he can see is Tony at the stove, apparently flipping pancakes (which is new—who taught Tony how to make pancakes?), with Steve nestled in behind him. Bucky smirks, having been in almost that exact situation with Stevie himself, but reversed, before the super serum. He decides to make his presence known by lightly clapping a hand on Sam's opposite shoulder, forcing Sam to be underneath his draped (non-robokiller) arm. Sam jumps and flinches, drawing back for an indefinite amount of time before realizing that Bucky had just gotten the drop on him.

"The fuck Barnes" Sam whispers angrily, face still taught from witnessing what's going on below,

"Why are you awake so late…or early?"

"I.." Sam clears his through, eyes darting to the floor below, and Bucky wishes for a millisecond the hallway were less dim so he could really see Sam's cheeks darken,

"I couldn't sleep and I thought I heard some odd noises and then I got distracted" Sam looked back down at the kitchen, clenching his jaw at the scene. Bucky peered down too, realizing that Pepper had at some point padded in wearing Cap's shirt. Steve lifted Pepper onto the countertop with a smile, kissing her forehead. Bucky felt almost too voyeuristic—in the ashamed way, not the hot way.

"What are they even doing…" Sam whispered softly, Bucky thought for a moment about making a crack about consenting adults, but figured that Sam needed to hear something else entirely.

"Steve's always known that he leans both ways. I'm just glad that he finally realized how big the tension between him and Tony was growing. Tony cares very deeply about him Wilson, as does Pepper." Sam draws in a sharp breath, pinning James accusingly with his eyes,

"I just can't believe he didn't tell me…that's not just something you keep from your friend slash therapist," he finally mumbles, eyes still locked heatedly onto Bucky's,

"What are you so worried about? That Steve is going to stop being friends with you because of this? That he, and then everyone, is going to stop paying attention to you? You're very needed in this team Sam. You're very needed in his life." Sam just snorts and rolls his eyes back to the domestic, 4 a.m. breakfast making scene in the kitchen. Bucky sighs softly and takes a gentler approach,

"I've been trying to figure out why there's so much animosity between us when it comes to me and him and you—"

"I'm not as needed as you," Sam interrupted bitterly, "you'll always be the person he would drop everything for, even though I dropped everything for him, and now there's Tony and Pepper—I…God I sound like a teenage girl."

"If I need to make myself scarce for a while to allow you two to have a discussion about his impending relationship and patch your friendship—"

"Are you kidding? He'll always pick your side over mine. You're his beloved Bucky. Do you know how much time we spent looking for you? How much time he spent agonizing over the Winter Soldier? He'd never willingly send you away. He'd never let you leave permanently, even if you wanted to."

"Are…are you jealous? Are you mad that that's not you down there?"

"That's beside the point!" at Sam's outburst, very similar to the previous screams from their previous arguments, James laughs and puts a finger over Sam's mouth, pointing to downstairs while knowing full and goddamn well that Steve could probably hear them due to his serum enhanced ears.

"Why the fuck are you laughing Barnes?"

"You're upset about not knowing Steve's sexual preferences. You're jealous of my friendship with Steve. You're jealous of Tony and Pepper for making an actual move on Steve, yet you fail to realize and have failed to realize for months what's right in front of you." Bucky's tone is both soft and hard, and Sam looks taken aback,

"I love Steve, he's my best friend, he's my oldest friend. But you're too…concerned about your friendship with him or your unrequited lust for him after I've come back into the picture. I know it's not about what he has or hasn't told you, it's about you being worried you'll be out of the picture because of his already acquired swell super friends or because of his growing romantic relationships or because of me."

"This is all very obvious and I don't know why in the ever loving hell you're so concerned with the obvious, I—"

Bucky is kissing him. Bucky is roughly grabbing his face. Bucky's stubble is brushing his chin aggressively. Bucky is standing a little taller to match his height, insistently pressing his lips against Sam's, and what the actual fuck? Sam's heart skips a beat, his breath catches. Bucky's lips are smooth but slightly chapped and Sam can't help but relax into his hold and relax into this kiss, and again what the actual fuck?

Bucky breaks away for a breath and sets his forehead against Sam's, still cradling Sam's face in both of his hands.

"Wow ok the obvious isn't so obvious" Sam mutters. Bucky chuckles in response,

"You're such a punk."

"Goddamn look at her" Clint breathed, and she couldn't muster enough energy to feel embarrassed as their eyes roved her form. Her eyes were so heavy and she felt floaty and disconnected.

"I think she's in subspace" Clint whispered, turning to Thor. Thor smiled gently and rose to stand.

"Do you know how to work her bathing chambers? Draw her a lukewarm bath and I'll carry her in there." Clint nodded, moving to stand and almost stumbling with the weight of his body. His legs were heavy and numb as he moved to fill her large tub. She murmured quietly as Thor picked her up, cradling her against his chest.

"She did so well—I've never seen a Midgardian do so well in such a situation." Clint turned, his brow knitted,

"Did you…I thought you didn't even do that trick with Jane or Darcy when you slept with them and they have remnants of the Ether…"

"I felt that she could take it—and she did. Clint she is…." Thor paused, he didn't know if Clint knew of her constitution. He could feel the magic in her because of his own sensitivity to magic, but he didn't think Clint could feel it. It wasn't his secret to tell.

"She's what?" he questioned, pouring some lavender and patchouli oils into her bath like she liked.

"Very strong for a human. She's..special." Clint's face turned soft as he watched Thor lower her gently into the tub, her eyes still half lidded and glazed.

"I know" he whispered as he moved to go grab her a gatorade from the kitchen. Thor sat on the ledge of her bathtub,

"But he does not know, does he little witch?" Thor whispered softly, stroking her face as her eyes snapped open and teared up suddenly,

"Please don't—"

"I know, shhh, I will not on my honor. But you must tell him soon." He whispered, withdrawing his hand from her lips and grabbing a rag from the nook next to her bathtub to gently smooth down her arms and legs. She nodded and quelled her tears as Thor hummed some forgotten tune into her bathroom.